Love Hate
by WritersProse
Summary: AU Sora x Kairi. Sora and Kairi get sucked from their jobs in Japan and into a universe where everything Disney becomes a reality. The two have to work together in order to survive in worlds they once thought were mere fantasy. With Kairi's sharp mind and Sora's knowledge of everything Disney, will they be able to survive long enough to stop the Heartless threat?
1. At the Beginning

_**I hate and love Disney.  
**__**  
**__** I work at the happiest place on Earth, and I hate/love my job so much.  
**__**  
**__** Or would that technically be the happiest place in Japan? Or maybe the third or **__**fourth 'happiest place on Earth'? I'm not quite sure where Tokyo Disneyland fits into that slogan.  
**__**  
**__** Is the original Disneyland in America still considered the happiest? Fill me in via email.  
**__**  
**__** Anyways, I digress. What I'm really hoping to achieve with t**__**his blog is an understanding about why we all HATE and LOVE Disney. For the people who are tired of the 'long lines' at the amusement parks, but still get excited when you eye a hidden mickey you swear no one has seen before.. To those who know that Disney**__** is just after your money, but buy all of the DVDs anyways.  
**__**  
**__** I actually, for the record, own two **__**copies of Tangled. One standard**__** def DVD and one hi-definition Bluray disc. It was that nostalgic!  
**__**  
**__** Maybe I'm so bitter because after five years working at t**__**he company, I know how they trick people into believing they are something they're not.**_

_**It's all a show.**_

_** They aren't nice to you because they are **__**genuinely**__** nice people. They're nice to you because they want to snake their hand into your wallet and empty y**__**our life savings.  
**__**  
**__** Oh, and don't get me started on those rides. Everything has to be based off of a pre-established property now. You know the Tiki Room? They stuck Stitch in that thing. Couldn't just leave well enough alone. Gotta find a way to cash-in **__**and stomp on the **__**integrity**__** of what was already there.  
**__**  
**__** Now everytime I go and visit the Tiki Room, I have to be reminded of how they were too lazy to build a proper Stitch ride. Instead they had to attach the property to something already timeless, like **__**a brown stain on a perfectly functional pair of tighty whities.  
**__**  
**__** This isn't to say that I hate everything Disney. Oh no. Not by a long shot.  
**__**  
**__** I have what one might call an 'insane' Disney collection back at my apartment. Ever heard of The Black Cauldron?**__** Of course you haven't.  
**__**  
**__** I have. It sucks. Still watched it ten times.  
**__**  
**__** Not that I mean to brag, but I also have the most comprehensive collection of Disney plushies known to man. They run the **__**gamut**__** from Mickey to Mulan and then all the way back to Osw**__**ald.  
**__**  
**__** They remind me of a **__**simpler**__** time. Back when I thought Ariel was the hottest thing ever and I swore that someday I was going to be as buff as Hercules.  
**__**  
**__** There is still a lot of magic left in old Disney and the traditions of that era. So much of t**__**hat is gone now. Even Tangled could have been better if they just stuck to the pencil and pen, and I loved Tangled.  
**__**  
**__** Loved it from the very bottom of my bank account.  
**__**  
**__** Sure, you could say that Walt loved new technology too. But I don't think he loved i**__**t to the point of throwing out the old. The short Paper Man was an incredible blending of old with new (CG with traditional animation layered on top).  
**__**  
**__** That was innovating without throwing away. I think a lot of modern filmmakers could learn from that fil**__**m.  
**__**  
**__** Or maybe it is just because traditional animation is the Disney I remember as a kid, before I became an adult and realized they were a heartless corporate monster. Back when Snow White and Pinnochio seemed like real people that I might pass on the str**__**eet one day. Back when I would beg my parents to endure a two hour line for Space Mountain because I wanted to see the stars.  
**__**  
**__** Now I know that the stars are just little disco globes with holes put in them. You shine a little light through those, and voila, star**__**s.  
**__**  
**__** It's a really cheap effect now. When I learned that was the very day my heart started to sour.  
**__**  
**__** Starting tomorrow I'm going to begin an anthology called 'Why I Hate/Love My Job.' It will be a two-parter!  
**__**  
**__** Until then, keep the magic alive! Or don't**__**. It's really up to you, after all. **__**  
**__**  
**__** -From MouseHater's blog**__**  
**__**Three days before the attack**_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It had been five years, and Sora Fukui still worked at the same position at Tokyo Disneyland. He greeted, he smiled, and he took guest tickets. Sometimes, if he was so fortunate, he got to work at the exits and register handstamps on guests who were planning to return to the park later that evening. In those moments, he evaluated how much of the 'Disney spirit' those exiting were infused with.

Mostly, among those adults without children, they had a face of relief. Finally they would be able to return home, away from the crowds, and fall into a deep sleep. Those with children showed a similar relief, but Sora also noted a different expression. There was a look of pride that their kids got to experience the park for themselves, and even when the tears were falling from the little tykes, the parents knew that they had infused them with memories that weren't likely to leave.

'The spirit of Disney' is what upper management kept on telling him during orientation. You have to make sure that everything feels Disney. That warm feeling of nostalgia was what he was meant to protect.

And then there were those guests who just looked downright pissed.

During the first year at working with the parks, Sora didn't really notice them too much. He, much like many other new hires, was swept within the magic of the position. 'How cool is it to get to work at Disneyland,' he often thought to himself. 'You get to be out in the fresh air and the sunshine, and occasionally you get treated to 'admiring gazes' from the local female demographics.

By the time that the second year came by, all of his enthusiasm had been drained, and he found himself turning on his internal auto-pilot more than he rightfully should. "You have a good day," was a phrase he hoped that he would he would never have to say again.

Disneyland became a bore and a disappointment. A worn-down faded version of the vibrancy he had remembered as a child.

Inexplicably, on some days, a little bit of the magic would come back to him. When this happened, he attempted to share it with the droves of guests as best he could.

He was, as some overly colorful cast members would call, a gatekeeper to the kingdom. He held the keys to the park, and when gracious folks came to him for assistance, he opened the gates to them. Though, try as he might, his smile just didn't seem as bright as it used to.

His fondest memory was, on a particularly beautiful Monday morning, cheering the spirits of a particularly morose little girl. He wasn't quite sure what her story was, but her mindset certainly wasn't in a Disney way. So, he smiled graciously at her and said "For every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun..." He took the ticket from her, hovering it just inches from his scanner. "...Annnnd snap..." The ticket slid through the red laser, letting out a loud clean whistle. "... The job's a game!" The quote did not go unheeded by the little girl, and she smiled back at him before entering Main Street.

He truly felt like a keeper of the kingdom, at least for that day.

The harsh reality was that children were much more interested in Mickey Mouse than they were in the guy who scanned their ticket for entry. He came to realize that the real magic was sight, music, and scent. Once you take those three things away, Disneyland was nothing but a giant empty facade.

Sora frequently recounted an experience he had upon park opening. As he wandered around the park with a co-worker, he noticed something peculiar. The stage lights were no longer on. The Haunted Mansion was much smaller than it appeared to guests, now that the work lights had replaced what was previously there for atmosphere. Everything lost dimension and depth, and without the music there was no feeling.

It was like the very soul of the park had been sucked out.

Try as he may, his future seemed to be drawn inevitably towards the Magic Kingdom. Sora's grades just weren't up to snuff, as 'Disney Trivia' wasn't a major available at most universities. He settled with the fact that he would soon be on academic suspension and his chances of ever getting a degree were slim to none.

Maybe someday he would find something to occupy his life other than ticket scanning.

There was a day, back when he was seventeen years old, where he was certain he could become a Disney Imagineer if he just tried hard enough. Now the cold hard reality was that they weren't looking for people like him. They were looking for people with flashy degrees who were willing to color within the lines.  
Sora always wanted to think outside of the box, though at this point in his life it would take a miracle to drag him away from his ticket booth.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The break room at Disneyland reminded Sora of how high school used to be separated. No one seemed to be banding together as one would expect an 'ensemble of cast members' would. Instead, they were broken up into different cliques.

There were the character actors, who frequently hung out by themselves and didn't really bother with anyone else. They, like many actors that Sora had met in his time, were conceited unlikable pretty people.

One exception to the rule, Sora held very close to his heart. She rarely sat with the others.

The other clique was the janitorial team. Not that they were unfriendly to anyone around them, it just felt awkward speaking to the people who were responsible for keeping the park spick and span when the rest of the cast had far more glamorous positions. The princes never talk to the work, regardless of how chatty the work might get.

Average Joes of Disney was the unofficial title for those who landed somewhere in the middle between 'character actor' and 'the help'. They could blend alright into the other groups, but mostly liked to keep to themselves and complain how their particular area of expertise sucks.

Food service sucks. Guest services sucks. Merchandise sucks. Sora had heard them all.

Then the final group consisted of two people, who found that they really didn't like anyone in particular. Sora the ticket boy and Kairi the princess.

In truth, they were the only friends that each other had anymore. Having known each other since their high school days, Kairi was usually the type who kept quietly to herself while Sora was the very center of the conversation. Once they had both become stuck at Disney, however, Sora soon found that his own voice wasn't near as interesting as he had previously thought. Kairi, on the other hand, found a new way of expressing herself.

When she pretended to be Belle, she didn't have to be herself anymore. When she walked out into a crowd, children came to her and asked her silly questions that only the character she pretended to be would know the answer to. When she was on a float, she was the center of attention. People loved her when she was Belle.

They loved her much less so when she was simply Kairi. A simple girl with zero to no conversational skills.

Kairi and Sora sat in two chairs next to each other. Kairi was on her phone, moving her index finger across the screen as she read the last few pages of "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time." Looking to her right, she found Sora had drifted off to sleep, complete with his mouth being agape with a soft snoring sound.  
Kairi poked him. "You know, lazy bums don't get any pay."

"Gimme a break, Kairi." He turned his head to the other side, closing his soon to be drooling mouth in the process.

"You should try to get more sleep," she said with a note of concern. "You look like you might have been run over by a train."

"Haha," he said mutely. "You know, if this was our first year in high school, this conversation would have been reversed. I would have been telling you to put one of your books down and engage yourself, and you would be like 'but it's the last book in the series... I'm gonna stay up all night reading it'."

"Yeah, except now we're not in high school anymore. Now I pace my reading time accordingly with real life duties."

"Well," Sora lulled his head over in her direction. "I did get a date with you. That has got to be worth something, right?"

"One of your great accomplishments in life," she smiled. "Right next to your Playstation trophies."

He made a kissing expression with his lips. "Well, I think that you're a lot more than just a trophy, sweetie."

"Ahem," she pretended to clear her throat. "Clear your jets. We have an audience."

Sora straightened up in his seat. The problem with being two individuals that didn't really fit into any clique, is that everyone knows that you're going to become a couple someday. Now that the day had come, there were more than a few passing glances in the break room. The other princesses measuring him up. The guys taking bets on how long the whole endeavor would last.

"She is usually so picky," Sora heard one of them say. "Why did she settle for him?"

It was the truth that Sora had let himself go. Though he wasn't homely by anyone's imagination, he had known that others far more desirable than him had approached Kairi in the past. His jealously would have been too much for him to bare if he hadn't known that she was a stickler when it came to men.  
"I settled for him because he's sweet and good and kind and doesn't gossip," Kairi responded as loudly as she could. "At least... not in front of people's faces. Where everyone can hear... yeah..."

As loudly as she could still wasn't quite loud enough for anyone to pay any attention. She returned to her book, flipping through the pages at an increased rate. "That showed them," she grumbled.

"I'm proud of you," Sora slumped again. "It isn't everyday that I see you jump up like that. This is progress."

Since their friendship began, they were beginning to become more and more like each other as the days progressed. Sora learned how to take things easy and not be the center of attention, and Kairi was slowly learning how to break shells in order to make an omelet.

Now that they had begun dating, Sora wondered if she was going to start picking up his mannerisms next. He had seen a few old couples who did it, and there was something strangely adorable about it.

'I'm thinking too far ahead,' Sora mentally chastised himself. 'After the first three months, then you can start daydreaming about buying coffins together.'  
Kairi looked around here, seeing that everyone had gone back to whatever conversations and meals they were previously engaged in. She leaned over to Sora's left ear and whispered "They only take interest in me if they think I'm taking an interest in you."

"Mmhmm" Sora nodded. "The way they were talking, I would have figured you were the Belle of the ball... no pun intended."

"That pun was freaking intended and you know it," she shook her head.

"Cause I'm clever like that."

It was a cute notion, but he knew better by this point. Being a Princess in the park immediately makes you desirable lady 'numero uno' according to almost all of his co-workers.

The transformation from simple girl to fake princess was staggering in Sora's eyes. Somebody whom he had learned to care for very deeply would transform right before his eyes into something that she was not. Just another pretty girl in a yellow dress pretending to be fictitious royalty. She wore the smile surprisingly well, and her demeanor would shift.

Even when she was in the worst of moods, her princess side was all smiles. Big, wide, white, fake smiles. And immediately when the costume was off, such as in the backroom, she went back to being a timid and frequently moody woman.

Sora would have had her no other way.

With the last few minutes they had left together before duty tore them apart again, they occupied themselves with a cooperative strategy war simulator on her tablet. As was frequently the case, Sora came to terms with just how much sharper she was in terms of tactics and cerebral activities. He almost wished they could switch the games over to Street Fighter so that he wouldn't feel completely demeaned in the gaming department.

"...Do you ever get that feeling," he said after she had dominated the battlefield. "...that life is never going to get better and you are always going to be wondering just what the hell is wrong with you?"

"All the time." Her eyes were still trained on the tablet as she held a grin of victory. "You should know that by now."

"Well, do you ever just feel like, you know what, if this is the very best that it gets maybe I should just consider a new vocation. A new reason for living. Maybe I should get into arts, or poetry, or something other than, you know, ticket taking."

She switched her game off, and looked him straight in the eyes. "When I'm feeling really down, do you know what I do?"

"Dream about me?"

"Yes, Sora. I dream about you. My pillow that I have named Sora bares your image and I suffocate him with my love, you gushy wushy bear." She rolled her eyes. Sora thought that he saw a hint of a blush, but brushed it off as wishful thinking. "I mean, yes, I do dream about you sometimes. But that wasn't what I was going to say."

"What were you going to say?" Sora glanced up at the clock. They only had another couple minutes before it was back to the daily grind.

"I try and imagine that I am on this epic quest," she said. "That all of this pressure is coming down on my shoulders, because you know, saving the world isn't exactly something one gets used to. It sort of breaks you down to your basic components and you learn just what exactly you are. You learn that the stress of it really sucks, and you just wish you could go back to the simple times. Like when you worked at Disneyland and you thought that was the very worst thing that could ever happen to you. But you were sooo wrong."

"And that helps?"

She nodded. "Just tap into some kind of fantasy," Kairi suggested. "Live it." She whispered in his ear. "See you tonight. Seven o' clock. Outside of work."

"Gotcha."

The pair returned to their duties, both wearing fake smiles they wished they could replace with genuine ones.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"How romantic," Kairi said sarcastically. "McDonald's. The most romantic dinner I've ever had."

The fastfood restaurant was not too far removed from the feelings Sora frequently associated with Disneyland. A place he had adored as a child, until he realized that the food was actually disgusting and the only reason he enjoyed going there was because of the toys that came with the Happy Meal.

Now he was able to buy all of the toys online after their initial release. It killed the joy for him, but it was the cheapest location so close to work.

There was no one in the place other than them and the employees. 'What luck,' Sora thought to himself. 'We have the whole place to ourselves and there are no pesky kids to disrupt the atmosphere.'

"I love the way you slaughter those things," he laughed as she took another three fries and ate them at once.

"They don't stand a chance. Once you build up a hunger like mine, you can't let it go. You've gotta follow it through, no matter what happens. No matter how the fat begins to pile or how the diabetes begins to set in. You have to kill them all."

Plans began to crop up in his mind. If love was a battlefield, then he had been participating in the equivalence of a war. 'What to do? What the hell do I say to the woman who is the love of my life? But I don't want to scare her away either. I don't want to have her slip through my fingers again. You have already said I love you before, but it didn't mean anything then. If I say it again now, she is going to think it doesn't mean anything again and get scared off... I swear to god Sora, if you screw this up there will be no more Po-'

"You look really handsome tonight," she said. "That shirt suits you."

"Thank you. I like yours too. Very sexy."

They wore tattered overused clothes that could have doubled for pajamas. Sora wearing a white t-shirt with a small hole near the neckline, Kairi with a 'Death to the Kitty' shirt. Sora found the very idea of Hello Kitty to be so cavity inducing that to see a logo with the feline's head crossed out with red marker made Kairi particularly irresistible. This was despite the fact that the logo had been faded with age and were probably two sizes too large for her.

'Right as we were saying,' Sora's mind began to ramble again. 'If you screw this up, there will be no more Pooh plushies. Not a one.'

So he kissed her hard.

She kissed back.

His fears evaporated on her lips.

The kiss broke.

"Oh wow," Kairi breathed. "Somebody is frisky tonight."

"And I did it in public too. How scandalous."

She pecked him playfully on the cheek.

"Tell me sir, what brought on such a public display of affection?"

'Do you allow your internal thoughts to dictate your actions, or do you suck it up and put it out there?'

"Maybe I'm in love," Sora said, taking another four fries to make the statement seem casual. "I don't know. Maybe because I wanted to make up for a crappy first date where all I did was complain about work. May-"

"Shhh," she bit into another fry. Sora could swear she was chewing at a deliberately slow pace.

"What is it?"

"Don't overthink this stuff, Sora. Just soak it in." Kairi looked him in the eyes. The same sort of gaze that happened when he ranted about life. "I love you too. And don't be afraid to say it. If you were to grow to hate me someday, I would want to hear that too."

The clock ticked on the wall, and she continued to gaze into him. He was beginning to feel himself blush from the attention. Romance was never too traditional when it came to Kairi. She didn't like to calculate or to plan things out in advance. Rather, she just liked to lay back, and see where their currents ended up taking them.

Though he was ecstatic to hear that his love was shared, there were times he wished that he could steer them in particular directions. But with Kairi, it became very difficult. She was an immovable object, regardless of how much one tried to push contrivances upon her.

She planted two small kisses on both of his cheeks. "You're always so determined to make something happen that they can never just happen. But this all feels really good. We aren't tripping over each other in order to get to the next compliment. It's nice to just say that I love you, kiss, and eat french fries."  
"Did I almost make things awkward again," Sora asked.

"Turn off your brain, sweetie."

"Right, I'll try that."

The bells on the door jingled as a middle-aged man entered the restaurant. His hair was brown and seemed to stick out in all sorts of directions as though by static electricity. He took a seat at the other end of the dinner, looking over at the couple with interest.

Kairi squirmed in her chair. "What is up with that guy?"

"Maybe he wants some of our fries."

"He didn't even order anything. Just sat down all hunky dory. That is super creepy."

Sora gulped. Whenever she became suspicious about someone, it would immediately begin to freak him out and consider plotting the nearest exit. 'You just never know who wants to stab you through the eye anymore.'

"Let's forget about it," Kairi dragged him out from his dread. Breaking a french fry in half with her two fingers, she handed one half to him. "To our continued romance. To discovering just what the hell we are."

"Here here." He lifted the fry up, before dropping it into his mouth.

It was stale, but he swallowed it just the same.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The next day at work, they were once gain separated by duty. Kairi rode the third float to go down the Disneyland parade path, standing amongst her plastic and all too inanimate friends Lumiere and Cogsworth. Her job was to fake happiness at all costs and wave until her wrist began bleeding. On some days, when she just didn't want to be Belle anymore, she imagined the masses of people around her suddenly disappearing in a billowing pillar of fire. All of the cheers and attention that she received as Belle suddenly turned into cries for help, and her grin took on a more sinister flavor.

Though it seemed strange to her, almost everyone of her cast members said that she put on her best performances when she did this. And so tonight, like many others before, she was going to imagine that the world was going up in flames. Princess Belle had lost it and was using her telekinetic pyro powers for the good of herself and her candlestick.

Sora had told her that such thinking was dreadfully morbid, but there were some nights where it was all that kept the smile on. Imagining things distinctly un-Disney and yucking it up.

He was, once again, at his ticket booth trying his best not to let the fatigue show. He often envied Kairi's position up on the float, being cherished and adored by children all across the world. That was exactly what Disney was supposed to represent to him, not scanning countless tickets so that parents can buy their kids more plastic figurines inside the park. After a while, they all started to look the same. They all said the same things and acted towards him the same way.  
He was just the help at Disneyland. Why should they care?

The repetition was beginning to take its toll on him. There had finally come a point, somewhere down in his knees, where he swore they were going to buckle from under him. They were starting to wobble, not from fatigue, but from restlessness.

The world continued to turn, and he stayed in the same exact same place. He thought that Kairi had no doubt ridden her float half-way down Main Street by this point.

Both of them smiled on the outside, but on the inside they sported something akin to a spoiled child's pout.

An attractive couple, both of which appeared to be in their mid-thirties, came forward to have their tickets scanned.

Almost immediately, something seemed particularly different about them and the way they held themselves. They didn't look like they were from around here, both looking as though they held enough energy to begin a sporadic song and dance number at any moment.

The woman, whom had immediately caught Sora's eye, sported red hair which he was almost certain had to have been dyed. It contained too much color for it to be natural. It was as though someone had taken Ariel's style, cut it down to shoulder length, and plopped it on top of a superbly muscular Japanese woman.  
He was certain that if it were ever to come down to it, the woman would be able to kick his ass before he even wished her a 'great evening'.

He looked over to the other man, with his trademark smile ready to please.

The smile faded quickly as a cold shiver ran down Sora's spine.

He attempted to bring the smile back, but could not manage it. His face had completely frozen, every muscle seeming to lock-down. Somehow he knew this man, but from where and how was much harder to answer. He knew his heart, but not his history or even his name.

A connection was immediately made, and he felt warmth rush through him.

"They are coming for you," the man said darkly. "And they will keep coming after you. Your only hope is the blade."

"T-Thank you," Sora managed to wrap his mouth around the words. "You two have a great evening."

And like that, the couple had entered the park and he had regained movement in his face. Before he knew it, another family had come up wanting in. The routine had managed to sneak up on him.

His shoulders quaked. 'How could I have been so stupid,' he scolded himself.

He hadn't even scanned their tickets. A part of him knew perfectly well that they didn't have any.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The couple moved into Main Street, though found navigation to more of an issue than they had initially anticipated. The crowds were causing the walkways to become continuously congested as the parade floats continued to move their way down.

"It's like a nightmare," the man grunted. "Like some sort of freaky idol worship or something. I'm shocked that there isn't a version of us up there."

The girl gulped as they were practically pushed against one of the store windows which read 'The Wizard of Bras'. "Well, at least one of us is." She pointed her finger towards the 'Beauty and the Beast' float, where stood a girl in a Belle costume. "This is just… too bizarre. I'm not even sure I can breathe." The crowd managed to come in tighter. "And I'm not just saying that because of all the people."

Retreating into the gift shop, they found the influx of people to be more tolerable. Though there were still people attempting to make their way into other areas of the park, the crowds were not acting erratic.

"So," the woman cleared her throat. "The mission."

"Right, the miss-"

They both stopped short as they looked at an entire display of Mickey Mouse memorabilia. The famous mouse's likeness was smeared carelessly all over watches, bento boxes, purses, hair clips, and just about any other trivial object that could be thought of. His trademark red, yellow, and black color scheme could be found everywhere.

"Holy moly," the man gulped. "You know, I can accept a world where another pair of us exist. That isn't too bad. But for them to do this to the Kin-"

"He's just a cartoon," she cut him off. "Just a cartoon made by a man with a knack for invention. We have seen this kind of thing before."

A little girl with messy black hair bolted in front of them, grabbing the nearest Mickey Mouse watch she could find, and then scampering back to her mother.

"What do you think would happen if she found out," the man said.

"She would lose her mind," she smiled. "But remember, we're just a couple on vacation. Keep it loose with the super top secret talk, okay?"

They both sat in silent for a few moments, watching as Belle floated by on the street. The woman whispered into the man's ear. "On that topic, I don't care what they say. She doesn't look a thing like me."

"The kid at the front didn't look like me either. But it is about the hearts, right? The King did say that appearances can be deceiving."

Her expression fell as she looked away from the float and into his eyes. "I really don't want these kids to be stuck in the same shit we are."

The man remained silent as she studied the princess outside.

"Remember how happy we were as kids?"

"We don't choose what these things eat. They do. Do you really want these kids to get eaten with their whole world?"

Fixing her gaze back on the girl in the parade, she looked as though she were as hard as a rock. "No. No, of course not."

There came a rumbling as though thunder were crashing down from the sky. Everyone in the shop jumped, save for two. "I hate this job," she moaned.

"We all do."

"Can I quit?"

"Can we quit?"

Another loud rumbling bang, and the guests began to panic. "Of course not," she sighed.

Three more loud rumbling bangs came in succession, this time shaking the windows. "They're outside," she said coldly.

"Yep."

"It's going to be the end for this world too."

"Most likely…"

She watched as the first of them came from the sidewalk. "Why do we keep on doing this?"

"Because we are the only ones who can."

"Wielders of the keyblade," she cringed. "What a bad joke."

Grasping his hand as though it were the only solid thing left in the world, a red and blue blade materialized into her hand. "Sora," she breathed.

A white blade with a gold handle appeared in the man's free hand. Grasping his weapon until his knuckles lost blood flow, he wore a genuine smile.

Their hands separated, but their hearts remained as one.

"Let's get this over with," she said as they entered the street.

The crowds had disappeared. All that was left were shadows.  
_**  
**__**X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X**_

_**Author's Notes:**_

_**I would like to thank my proofreader 'sweater kid' for sending me a very detailed and very awesome list of typos that have now been fixed up. Without her, Sora's hair would still be 'attracted to Kairi' and people would still be 'sitting done' instead of 'sitting down'. She is truly an awesome person, and about twenty-five percent of this chapter's quality goes to her. **_

_**I've grown into a strange love/hate relationship with Kingdom Hearts. I think it all began when I started to play Dream Drop Distance. Nothing about the story made any sense to me, and I was starting to feel as though Square was just starting to rip me off. Like they know that I'll buy anything Kingdom Hearts related as long as the characters and gameplay were the same.  
**__**  
And they are right. I will keep on coming back. Because somewhere deep down inside, I love all of the cheesy antics of Sora and Riku and… Kairi… you know, when she's actually doing something. I thrill at being able to visit all of these different Disney worlds and fighting for their survival.  
**__**  
The adult in me keeps on cringing at the dialogue and over-complicated story, but the child in me doesn't care and just likes Japanese teenagers whacking things with keyswords.  
**__**  
This fic for me is a mixture of what my inner child loves about Kingdom Hearts and what my adult mind kind of wishes Kingdom Hearts actually was. These two things are going to conflict horribly with each other, but I'm figuring that is going to be part of the fun.  
**__**  
If you have read up to this point, if you would be so kind, be **__**sure to leave a super great and super honest review. I love to know what people think, as it can help me form in my mind what steps I need to take in order to improve the story.  
**__**  
So do you want to have a little tease at the next chapter? Well… it will probably have something to do with… relationships… and hearts… and destinies…**__** and Star Tours… and people and stuff.**__** Cause you know, **__**that's what makes a story!  
**__**  
Look forward to more down the line! Send me any questions that you might have concerning the story or any comments or concerns or praises or... or whatever. I love to hear it all.**_


	2. Kairi Rises

'Fire! Hellfire! All of you burnt to cinders!'

The parade route had managed to be one of the most torturous in Kairi's career. The crowds were particularly dense, and the children had become uncharacteristically rowdy.

A couple minutes after her float left backstage, a young boy had managed to escape the clutches of his parents and ran directly in front of her lumbering vehicle. The operators monitoring the show were able to stop the float just in the nick of time, but the expression on the boy's face as he realized his mistake left Kairi shaken.

It was as though a place he had once thought of as safe had suddenly turned sinister and life-claiming.

Security managed to swoop him from harm's way before any serious damage could occur, but it left Kairi with an unpleasant sensation in the pit of her stomach. 'With all of these crowds and all of these machines, it surprises me that more kids don't get caught between the gears more often.' It seemed inevitable. No matter how much you tried to childproof a place, someone would get hurt eventually. 'I wonder how many times it happens and we don't hear about it.'

Despite her internal complaints, the route continued on. She was still the Princess, and she couldn't let such small things take away her spirit. Morbid curiosity quickly turned to morbid humor in her mind as a grin returned to her face.

'A curse for you. May all of your children burn.'

A little girl from the street waved out to her with both arms flailing. Her Mickey Mouse hat almost fell from her head as she bobbed to the beat of "Be Our Guest." Kairi gave her a large toothy smile, and the girl burst with excitement.

Then she was sucked from existence.

Kairi continued smiling as though nothing had happened. 'It must be my mind playing tricks on me,' she told herself. 'Maybe child endangerment has become such a thing with me that it is beginning to take its toll psychologically.' Her grin grew wider. 'Maybe I'm going insane! My first steps towards serial-killer hood.'

She turned to the sidewalk to her left without a single crack in expression. Much to her surprise, a child of similar temperament was pulled violently under the crowd.

Her intuition began to tell her that it wasn't just a breakdown. Something clearly was amiss.

Her heart began to hammer. Another child was sucked under. The hairs on her neck began to prickle. An entire family was sucked away.

The screaming began. One family after another after another sunk until finally there was nothing left but a black void underneath their feet.

Suddenly, there came a loud roar from the sky. Screams of shock and horror shrieked from the crowd as they dispersed in all directions.

Kairi's float had come to a complete stop. 'That isn't the operators.'

Upon examining the new substance which coated the sidewalk, she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her chest. The black void moved as though it had a mind all of its own as it bubbled with each and every guest sucked within. As she watched a muscular young man in his twenties get sucked beneath the surface without so much of a struggle, fear coursed through her.

Hands falling with her smile, her princess demeanor was lost and her shoulders slumped. Her hands bunched into tight fists.

As guests attempted to flee, their screams were made barely audible over the bombast of the parade's soundtrack.

Once the void had made itself known, the following events happened so quickly as to send her into a state of shock.

Tendrils that looked barely thicker than wisps shot from the surface and went in all directions. A man screamed and kicked as it caught him around the leg and dragged him under.

Another loud crackling bang rang from the sky, this one startling no one in particular. Most everyone were busy facing death.

There was a tendril for every man, woman, and child who were unfortunate enough to stay for the festivities.

Gigantic inky hands came up from the goop, snatching cast members from their floats and dropping them to the street. "No, please!" she heard the woman who played Cinderella plead. "Not like this, I do-"

Kari had remembered the woman from her trips to the breakroom. She had a particular demeanor that drove all of the cast up the wall. She was egocentric and thought only of herself. She treated every grain of rice from her bento box as if it were a deadly explosive that could destroy her entire figure. She was mean-spirited and cared very little for the well-being of those who visited the park.

Kairi had always despised her.

But in that moment, none of it mattered. When the girl met her death, swung to the sidewalk and swallowed by the darkness, Kairi felt tears forming in her eyes. Those she once despised were now worth mourning, and those she had not even met were worthy of remembrance.

She wondered if the child who ran in front of her earlier found safety. Did he return back to his family as security dragged him from the street, or did he bolt from his parents once again and found himself falling into the earth?

She attempted to flee from her float, to find some sort of save haven within the chaos. Her legs would not respond, and she stood frozen before the chaos.

Within moments, what was once a bustling entrance to a national treasure more resembled a deserted ghost town, as everyone had been swallowed. The soundtrack switched to "Tale as Old as Time" as Kairi gulped.

The blackness stretched across the whole of the sidewalk. _"True as it can be."_ It slowly began to make its way into the street, covering everything within its path. _"Both a little scared."_ Something began to emerge from the surface, but then fell back flatly into the pool. Then, after mere seconds of non-activity, a claw shot from the gunk. An arrow strand thinner than a human arm connected it with the ground. _"Neither one prepared…"_ Smaller claws began to emerge from the side of the float, scratching at its vulnerable surface.

Whatever it was that killed the others were taking their time with her, slowly edging forward and preparing for the kill. She was trapped on the float. Any attempt to escape would no doubt lead to the same demise as her former audience and coworkers. Breathing became labored and painful as hope became dimmer. Why they hadn't taken her already seemed illogical as she gazed out at the sea of black.

As tears flowed down her cheeks, she began to think that they would be doing her a favor. Main Street had now fallen into a nightmarish aberration, worse than anything she had ever seen before.

Kairi felt like screaming, but kept it lodged in her throat. No one would hear her. For all intents and purposes, Disneyland looked as though it had dipped straight into hell, with luxuries such as security completely gone.

There was no savior in sight. No knight in shining armor to sweep her from her plight to safety.

'Oh god… Sora.'

He had been positioned at the front gate, and if what she had witnessed were any indication, they would have swallowed him whole before he had time to flee.

A sudden surge of defiance welled up within her. Looking to both of her sides, Kairi attempted to find some way to defend herself. Anything that might be able to fight the claw off. Anything that would give her the slightest chance of seeing Sora again.

She looked to her old inanimate float decoration Lumiere and desperately attempted to rip him from his foundation.

"Come on come on!" she screamed. No matter how much she pulled, Lumiere would not budge. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she mustered all of her strength. "Move damn you, move!" She knew that it wouldn't budge, but she was determined to try no matter what.

"I can't die like this! I can't die… I can-"

There was nowhere to jump. There was nowhere to run. There was nowhere to cry. There was no place to hide.

The claw moved forward again as the black completely enveloped the sides of her float. No primary colors remained. Only the darkness.

In her final moments, she did not meet death with grace. "I didn't want to go like this!  
She screamed out. "No please! Not like this! Not now!"

She sounded like Cinderella, whose confrontation with death had reverted her mentality to that of a crying child.

The claw swept at her fiercely. For the moments before she crashed into the void, one thought stayed with her. 'Sora…'

Her world went black. Life as she knew it came to an end.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

One more ticket, another chirp from the machine. Another ticket, another bird chirp. Another ticket, another chirp.

Sora felt his motions becoming continuously robotic, as though he were becoming one of the animatronics he envied. 'Well, at least they aren't conscious to know they're doing the same motions day in and day out.'

The inflow of guests had grown beyond anyone's expectations for the evening. Everyone working at the entrance gates gave each other concerned glances. There were beyond unprepared. They needed more employees to help lift their load, or else their guests were likely to turn on them.

Sora wondered why so many people would come to visit when the park was set to close in just a few short hours. This kind of rush was understandable during the day, but rarely during evening hours.

But stranger things had happened. Once, a delinquent had threatened him with a foam knife.

'It is like everyone and their cousin just decided right now was the perfect time to go to Disneyland. The perfect time to just invade me, beat me up, and leave me like the weasels would Eddie Valiant… out to dry…' He grinned at himself. 'God, I love that movie. Maybe I'll make Kairi watch it coming up here.'

Another ticket, another punch to the face. Another ticket, another punch to the gut. Another ticket and Sora was almost certain that he would pass out in front of everyone.

'There goes another little pale arm attached to a ticket.' Sora smirked. 'And another little pale arm. And another little pale arm. And another gunky inky arm.' Sora jumped. 'Wait a minute.'

"What the hel-" A chill possessed every muscle as he froze. As much as his lungs demanded for more breath, he couldn't catch any. He felt as though he had been plunged into a freezer and was being prepped for the slaughter.

It took everything he had to merely lift his head. What he saw glaring back at him stopped any action he might have taken. To hit it over the head with whatever he could manage to grab. To escape and flee and run and scream.

But he could not move a single muscle. The neck which had lifted his head was now as stiff as a petrified corpse.

In those few moments, he had no choice but to examine the thing which leered at him. There was no expression upon its face, and its figure looked as though it were made of tar. It shifted and changed every second, as though it were discontent with staying in any one form. It was indistinguishable, as though it did not belong in this world.

A mouth filled with blood red teeth formed, seeming to split two-thirds of the circumference of the thing's face. It grinned menacingly and began breathing rapidly.

He recognized that breath. It was not unlike the breaths he took when he saw Kairi in a bathing suit or imagined what their honeymoon activities would feel like.

As quickly as the creature grew fangs, the other guests just as quickly began to transform. Before his eyes, everyone with a ticket to Disneyland had the same breath and the same shape.

Sora heard their screams as they made the transformation. They weren't screams defying death. They were screams of exhale as death stole their lives.

They were all turned into something they were not. They all had the same blood red smiles and the same meancing leers.

Sora was certain he was going to die.

His thoughts turned to Kairi. All alone on her own float, those around her desperately trying to help and protect her. Quickly she is overwhelmed, and turns just like the guests in front of him. Into a monster that no longer knows who she is.

His heart pounded against his chest. He felt it was trying to escape from the cold and warm him to action.

He could clench his hands. He could move his toes. He could run.

"I-It can't end this way!" He cried out and fled in the direction of Main Street.

A sharp searing pain sliced down his back, and the brief warmth which spurred him left as soon as it came. His breathing slowed as he collapsed to the ground.

The pain blurred his eyesight as he turned to look upon his pursuer. From its mouth a cascade of drool fell to the pavement. It sharpened its claws against the turnstile, though Sora doubted that it needed to.

'It is playing with food.' The thought of being an appetizer for a rampaging monster was not something that had slipped his mind while daydreaming, but he wouldn't have imagined how real it felt. To know that something beyond his understanding would soon have him slipping down its throat.

Sora imagined its pinky going across his throat and his head popping off like a cap. That would be the end. He could be a blood fountain on the way up to Disneyland.

His arms and legs went numb as he continued to fight with his disability. "Come on!"  
He struggled to his feet before falling back onto the pavement. "I can do this!" The creature moved closer to him. The freezing cold came crashing on him once again. "I can't let her die!"

'I'm never going to see her again.'

"I will see her again!"

The creature took two slow steps forward as it studied him with growing intensity. Sora shook as he forced his right foot forward, elevating his torso. A sharp sting rang across his chest, but he kept moving despite himself.

'She's already dead.'

"I-I w-will save h-h-her!"

The creature stopped. A long purple tongue wiped across the outside of its mouth, before a bellowing cry erupted from deep within its belly.

He limped back onto both feet, even as his wound felt as though it would split open and rip his body apart.

The creature stood before him motionless. Watching his every move.

'I'm going to die here.'

"I will never d-die!"

He stood as firm as he could with the equivalence of a blazing inferno upon his back.

Turning his back to the beast, he ran off at a sprint. After a single moment, he was back on the ground, having tripped over his own feet.

The pain had completely shattered him, leaving him with nothing but an aching heart and a non-responsive body.

'This is it. This is the end. I'm going to die.'

He closed his eyes and prepared for the last sensation he was likely to feel as a human being.

The creature's howl rang loud and true, making his earbuds tremble.

A second went by without a noise, as though the whole world had been turned on mute.

Another few seconds went by and there was no pain. There was no sound.

He slowly opened his eyes, and he was where he had laid before. Awaiting a death that seemed all but inevitable. But there were no pearly gates or men with pitchforks.

"I-I'm alive?" He got back on both of his feet without a single ache. "What in th-"

"I took care of it," a voice broke through the silence. "Your wounds and your attacker. You did really good out there for a first-timer. I've never seen anyone manage to withstand the Bellower's poison that long without training. You have a really stout heart."

Sora twirled around. All of the creatures from earlier had completely disappeared, as though purged from the face of the Earth. Instead, a man holding a long white blade with a gold handle took their place.

The man's features were unmistakable. "You'll have your own blade soon enough at this rate," he said.

Sora noted that the end had a peculiar shape for a weapon. It resembled an oversized key.

"Oh god…"

"The reality of your situation is going to come hard. It's okay. Breathe in and embrace it. Don't try to fight it."

"You were the guy from earlier! The guy with the cryptic message thing!"

The man stood stoically. "Well, I was just trying to warn you. The Heartless are not something to be tak-"

"Did you do all this?! Did you make the black sponge thin-"

The man nodded towards him in understanding as white sparks flew from the tip of his blade.

"What is that? What are you doing?!"

"Protect!"

A small egg formed at the end of the man's weapon. It expanded rapidly, enveloping them both as it shimmered in the evening sky.

"This is a protective spell," the man spoke. "When they come for us, they'll have to go through that first. And me, of course. It is my duty to protect you, after all."

Sora's brain refused to process all the new information that had been unloaded on him.

The fact that a man he had just met was real-life wizard and had saved his life from a horde of scary monsters was of the least importance to him at that moment.

'Maybe he can help me save Kairi!'

"I have to go to Main Street! My girlfriend, she might be-"

The shell surrounding them began to move forward, and Sora barely noticed that they were moving along with it."Your Kairi is safe, don't you worry about that. My wife has no doubt already saved her. I would trust her with my life." They both levitated mere inches off the ground as the bubble transported them.

"How do you do this bubble magic stuff?"

"I'm a Keyblade master. It sort of comes with the territory." He smiled warmly and took the young man in his arms. Sora squirmed at the intensity of the embrace. It wasn't exactly what he was expecting from his new protector. "I will explain everything as soon as you are both safe. But for now, just promise me you won't look behind you."

"How do you know her na-"

"Questions questions. Just don't look back."

"Why, what's behind me?" Sora found himself feeling unusually calm considering the circumstances he found himself. He had just witnessed the death of dozens of guests and had just met a self-proclaimed Keyblade master. But somehow, now that it had all happened, it was making some sort of quasi-sense in his mind. Like a hero from a movie who had been completely sedated by pain killers.

"You don't want to know," the man said. "If we don't have to fight our way through them, best you don't see them at all. Besides, the pacifist way is usually the best way if you can manage it."

Ahead of them laid a bridge where rested the Disneyland Railroad. Beneath the bridge was a short tunnel which led park guests from the front entrance to Main Street USA.

"The Protect spell tends to have a calming effect upon those within it. So if you're feeling a little out of it, just know that it is for your protection. It is easy to lose your head when you're fighting Heartless."

"Heartless?"

The man smiled. "I wish I could tell you the details. They're the bad guys and we're the good guys. I think that about sums it up."

At the bottom of the bridge, above the entrance of the tunnel, laid a bronze plaque with golden lettering. The man read the lettering aloud. "Here you leave today and enter the world of Yesterday, Tomorrow and Fantasy." Silence filled the air as his expression soured. "You might not want to look up either."

The rusted brown behind the golden lettering changed to a shade of dark purple. From within the sign reared a giant serpent head with green emerald eyes. The head followed the shell which floated beneath it hungrily.

"We should probably keep moving," the man sighed. "Without stopping. Lots of running. Now!"

The creature lunged, breaking the shell which protected Sora from the unknown dangers which lurked outside it.

The breath from his lungs was sucked out as he fell into darkness.

X-X-X-X-X

It was the most at peace that she had ever felt. Her physical being was no longer of concern. She continued to fall, feeling as though she would never reach a destination.  
It felt like no time had passed at all and yet she had lived for an eternity. The girl named Kairi was no more. Now she was just another element of the world. A tiny peon with no significance in the bigger picture of the universe.

Inside she knew that she would have to leave this place. That she would have to disconnect from blissful contentment. But at this time, the thought was merely a blip on her mental radar.

"The world you knew means nothing now." An all too human voice came from the void. It sounded similar to her own, but not her own. "All of this represents who you are and what you could be. A blank slate from which to be written on. To be filled with unseen potentials. For a girl whose heart yearns is a girl who can achieve great things."

She could not move her mouth to reply. The gentle breeze which accommodated her fall was quickly turning to a strong torrent of wind. "You have potential, young one. And who better to guide you than someone who knows you better than you know yourself."

As though guided from unseen hands, Kairi began plummeting at an increasing speed. The peace she had experienced prior was shattered, and instead was replaced with a numbing disorientation.

A platform came into view beneath her. "You must continue to yearn with your heart if you plan to survive outside your world. A heart which lays dormant is snuffed with the others."

Both of her feet landed softly on the platform, despite the speed with which she had approached. Her clothing was different than what she had fallen with. Instead of looking straight out of a Disney fairy tale, she was wearing her 'Death to Hello Kitty' shirt. The light shining from the platform was incredibly intense, mixture of colors that looked more comfortable within a church stained glass window than in a place where darkness reigned supreme.

She was standing atop a familiar face. Warmth spread to her chest as she acknowledged who it was. "That's you. In a stained glass window of sorts. Pretty nifty, huh?"

Looking out at the entire platform, she saw that it told a story.

The circle she currently stood within featured her hunched over fighting against a fierce snowstorm. Holding her hand was a quivering Sora, who attempted to shield his eyes with his other hand. Kairi had her other hand upon her blade, looking far more stern than she could ever imagine herself being.

At the center of the platform was engraved another circle. Within it laid a depiction of her holding a shimmering blade outwards as a black mist surrounded her. Though it looked intimidating, her expression was unwavering and fearless.

On the opposite edge of the platform laid the final depiction. Kairi looked as the circle showed her kneeling before a King in suit of steel armor. The knightly version of herself had tears flowing from her eyes, as though it were the greatest honor she could ever receive in life.

"Wielders of the Keyblade change from generation to generation. World to world. Place to place. Though the Keyblade chooses its master, it is you who are in charge of your own destiny. If you look closely upon what is within you, you also glimpse the future."

Kairi turned towards the voice. Out of thin air appeared a woman resting on a pedestal within the middle of the platform. Her face laid directly in her palms as rose red hair cascaded to her shoulders. The physicality of the woman was very much unlike Kairi's own. Though she had not looked directly at her, the way her shoulders stood and her hair flowed made her appear to be a woman of great confidence.

"I was always one-upped by my own Sora," the woman spoke. "Not your Sora, but my Sora. It might get confusing later." She took a deep breath. "But even as his wife, I only ended up being a participant in the big picture of his adventures. I fought by his side, but really just about anyone could do that. I loved him, but he was easy to love. Our story was really his story, no matter how much I tried to carve my own path."

She arose from her pedestal and began to walk about the platform, gesturing to the depictions below. "But it appears you have a destiny all of your own. I must say that I'm envious. It isn't everyday that you meet a young woman who is bound to take life by the horns. Not content with living on an island all on your lonesome while you wait for your life to begin." She cleared her throat as she turned a little red. "Sorry. I might have gotten a little too personal there."

She looked up into Kairi's eyes and gazed deep within them. "I am offering my services as a spiritual guide, because you are in a very dark place right now. The worlds may meet many grim fates without you to intervene. Our hearts are connected, and in that way I shall always be with you. Your journey is now my journey, and vice versa."

There was a rumbling and a quaking from all sides of the platform. Kairi fell to her knees, not making a single sound. Her guide stepped towards her, examining her face. "I hate to do this to you so early in your life, but you must be tested. And if you don't make it through this, they will take your heart whole. Believe me, you do not want to become one of them."

Hands arose from the mural. They blotted the color which once seemed blinding to her.

"I cannot find your blade for you. But I am carrying you."

A monstrous form arose from the mural, towering over Kairi with meancing gusto. It was solid pink from top to bottom with a sparkling tiara atop its head. "Everyone's worst fears look different, I suppose. Good luck, young me. You will need it."

With that, Kairi was left alone with the beast. Her guide had disappeared from sight. She remained unable to move as the beast moved towards her.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X  
"What do you mean you lost him?!"

He had seen the look countless times before. It was always at the very moment he had managed to fail his responsibilities and he had to turn to his wife to fix his mess. It was not a proud tradition between the two of them, but as they had gotten older they both realized it was a necessary evil.  
"The Heartless just ganged up on us and he got swallowed by the snake," he explained. "He got eaten so quickly that I couldn't get my hands on him, and my offensive spells are all dried up!"

Blubbering out whatever came to his mind was perhaps not the most tactful method, but he had always had a policy of being honest even in the face of embarrassment.

He had managed to lose the boy he was intended to protect, and she already had the girl in her arms. It was not boding well on his heroic duties. She was huffing and puffing from activity while he looked like he might fall over from an anxiety attack.

"We can't do this without him! You know that, don't you?!"

"I gave it my all and I screwed up. The Heartless is still over there! He isn't beyond saving!"

She sighed, putting the girl down on the ground near his feet. "You take care of the girl. I'll get him."  
"Darling, shouldn't w-"

"If one of them falls, Sor-"

"Shhh!"

"The world is going to end, Sora! If one of our other versions die, all of this will have been for nothing."

He fell silent. He knew she was right. "I will protect the boy."

"With your life." She headed in the direction of the serpent, which was currently resting within a bed of ghastly hands. Kairi approached slowly as they caressed his blotchy scales. 'It would be a beautiful creature if it wasn't so destructive,' she thought to herself. 'It is a shame we can't domesticate them.'

The snake opened its eyes and hissed in her direction. 'This is where the fun starts.'

"Hey you!" Her voice was bellowing and commanding, like a commander who had just marched onto a battlefield. "You know that kid that you just ate?! I really want him back!"

The creature quickly slithered in her direction, its head bobbing as if to some unheard rhythm.

"Fire!" A blinding light leapt from the tip of her blade and struck the creature straight down the belly. It cried out in pain, but not before Sora crashed down to the ground below. The creature slithered back within the horde, which had amassed upon the ground and was thankfully paying little attention to the blade wielders.

She swept him up into her arms with an 'oomph', noting that he was much lighter than she had anticipated.

His eyes fluttered open. They quickly started to bulge out with surprise. "W-Where am I?!"

"You were swallowed by a horrible creature from another world," she replied. "I just rescued you."

He began to shake. She was unsure if it was from the cold or from fear. "Kairi. I need to find… Kairi! Is she okay?!"

She smiled. There was a certain someone whom had always put his life on the line for her no matter what happened. Someone who has brave and dumb all at once. Someone who was very much like the young man she carried, whether they looked alike or not.

He squirmed out of her grasp and quickly bolted towards where Kairi was laid to rest. When his hands came close enough to touch her, he found that they were repelled away from a protective shell.

"Kairi!"

"Sora has her beneath his shield," she assured him. "Nothing is going to get through there. Not as long as we're both here."

"Darling…"

"Oh come on, he isn't stupid. He is going to find out about us sooner or later."

Sora continued to pound against the shield with very little effect. A red shell formed around him as well, and his contact was shut off. "How could he be Sora when I'm Sora?"

"Well I'm Kairi and she's Kairi too," she spoke. "I know it is all very confusing, but now is not the time…" She turned him around. "I'm afraid that there is some chance that she may die…"

Sora stared over into the shield, coming close to tears. It felt like his stomach was being turned inside out and his heart had sharp tacks sticking out from it. How could this woman speak so casually about whether his Kairi was going to live or die? She was the only Kairi that he was ever going to learn to love. The only girl that meant anything to him at all.

This woman didn't know her. Not like he knew her.

"That's impossible," he retorted. "Look at her! She's not wounded! She's fine!"

"Her injuries are those of the heart," she said. "When the Heartless grabbed her, she was sucked within them for too long. When people come that close to the darkness, they don't always come back."

The man next to Kairi protested. "It is that kind of talk that keeps people from coming back! Sora, what she needs from you is your full and undivided attention. Do you think that you can do that?"

He gulped and looked him sincerely in the eyes. If they both thought it were an emergency, who was he to say that it wasn't? Though these matters of the heart seemed ridiculous to him, stranger things have happened.

"I would do anything. Just tell me she isn't going to die."

"She isn't," he assured. Looking both ways as to see any enemy movements, he thrust his blade to the ground and his shield shattered. "Come to her. Now!"

The red shield shattered in the same fashion. Sora sprinted to Kairi's side, quickly grasping her hand as he crouched beside her. "We will have to leave here soon," the woman said. "Our ship is not far and we may have wasted too much time already."

Sora could feel her pulse as he held her hand tightly. Two soft breaths followed by one wheezing sputtering breath. It was irregular, almost as though she were waging some sort of battle well beyond his understanding. "What is happening to her?"

"She is going to war," the woman nodded. "Though with us both here now, maybe it will have a positive outcome."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The Heartless represented everything that she despised. The little cute costumes that they made her wear in order to appease audiences. The girly colors that seemed to practically embed itself within her skin. She hated all of it.

But yet it was her. It was a her that could exist if she let it.

She didn't feel fear as she stood before it.. "How do I kill it," Kairi finally spoke.

There was no response. She was completely alone. The creature puckered its lips in a smooching gesture, making grotesque smacking noises in the process.

She despised it. The part of her that could take control at any moment. The part that would lead her down a path towards something that she was not. The path of a Disney park princess.

An object of affection and joy which prohibited her from acting like herself.

All of the attention. All of the waving hands. All of the excited children.

None of it was her.

Her heart raced as her blade materialized within her hand. It was bright red, with a key-shape that was distinguished with a gawdy flame design around the edges.

With her blade in hand, and a new found respect for herself raging, she stepped towards the creature.

"I've always wanted to get rid of you," she stated nonchalantly. "And now I'll actually have the honor of doing it."

The creature cackled in a sing-song tune, as though a small bird might land next to it and aid in its victory. With its eyes trained down at Kairi, it grinned sheepishly.

"Do you want to know a secret?" The creature spoke to her." Promise you won't tell?"  
With a voice as clear as crystal and as soft as a feather mattress, Kairi had just about enough.

"We are standing on a battlefield." It laughed. "Make a wish upon the field. That's all you have to do. And when that wish is made with all of your heart, your most dreaded fears come true…"

It lunged towards her, with the same sheepish grin laid across its face. "I'm wishing…" Kairi quickly slashed though it seemed immune. "For the one I wish to eat…" Its neck snaked around her, stretching from the torso of the princess. "To find me!" Kairi hacked at its exposed neck as it howled. "Today!" Her blade was now covered with black gunk where a half of the creature's neck used to be.

"I'm not afraid of you," Kairi said. It was far from the truth. She had never been so afraid in all of her life.

"Wouldn't-it-be-easier," the creature spoke slowly and sweetly. "To-work-with-me? That is all you'd have to do. Accept your weakness and become something-better-than-you."

The creature met her eyes with a fiery passion. Kairi braced herself as its neck curled close to itself, seeming to prepare for another lunge.

"No? Oh, you make for a very bad princess, don't you?"

Its mouth opened as two tendrils came shooting forth. They wrapped around both of Kairi's arms, sternly tugging her towards the creature's sharp candy cane teeth. She could hear the soundtrack of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as she was pulled forcefully towards the mouth. Kairi couldn't think of a more horrifying funeral march than 'Whistle While You Work'.

Her blade disappeared as the music became louder, piercing her eardrums. She could hear nothing else, not even her own thoughts. Just the most cheerful lyrics one could ever imagine.

"KAIRI!"  
She knew that voice. The only clear thing she could hear other than Snow White's tunes.

"Kairi, if you died now… if you died now, I just wouldn't know what to do with myself! Right when I thought that I finally had you, you slip away from me again!"

She could hear the beating of her heart.

"You can't die now! There is so much I've yet to show you. So much I haven't told you. So many movies I've yet to make you watch! Like Roger Rabbit! You have to live so we can watch R-Roger R-Rabbit"

Her heart thundered like lightning.

"I love you so much that everyday is worth enduring just to spend a few mere moments with you!"

Her blade reappeared as she was mere inches from the creature's teeth.

"If you come back, I swear to God things will be different. I'll be better. I'll take care of you no matter what! Just don't die on me! Please…"

Sora's sobs rang through her mind as she sliced against the creature's tongue.

It howled with pain as she cut herself free of its tendrils. "I was afraid of you," Kairi sighed under her breath. She walked towards the head as it writhed on the ground. "I'll never make that mistake again."

She plunged her blade into the creature's skull.

The platform crumbled beneath her.

The light overtook her.  
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_**A/N: This is version 2.0 of this chapter. Lots of spelling and grammar errors have been corrected, as well as a couple of continuity boo-boos (Sora's blade handle was changed back to gold as opposed to silver).**_

_**Special thanks to my super special awesome editor 'sweater kid'. Without her, this chapter wood probery be filed wit grammer probs al ovr teh place. Keep up the good work, Sweater! I'll continue to pay you in Cheerios.**_

_**This took much longer than it really needed to, but here it is. Chapter 2. Which much like Chapter 1, is about half the amount of content that I planned it to be. The end of the 'Kairi/Princess' fight seemed too good of a bookend for this particular section of the story that I decided to shave the whole back quarter of the chapter off.**_

_**Don't worry, it will still be coming. It will just likely be a chapter of its own.**_

_**By the way, I'm very proud of the ending of this chapter. I had a ton of fun writing it and it made me grin a whole lot. I'm not the most talented at writing action sequences (I would say it is probably my greatest weakness other than keeping characters from 'being snarky'), but I feel like the emotions and the symbolism was there to make it satisfying.**_

_**I think what is most important with this chapter, and I hope that it came across, was how the dynamics between 'this' Sora and Kairi is going to be different than the 'original' Sora and Kairi. They are kinda similar, but they are also very different.**_

_**This chapter was very much Kairi-centric, which was lovely to write. She's my favorite character to write by a long-shot, though alternative Sora is fun from a 'how many Disney references can I cram into his internal dialogue' perspective.**_

_**Perhaps it is suiting that the first chapter was very much in Sora's head and this chapter is more about what is in Kairi's head.**_

_**I'm trying to keep the gender roles between this universe's Kairi and Sora a little more untraditional than the original game. I kinda hate the damsel in distress archetype and find that women are typically portrayed very poorly in male-written works. Which is why I've been trying to find a place for strong female characters in all of my current writings, in hopes that I may one day be one of the exceptions who can write 'decent' females. Any feedback in this area would be fantastic.**_

_**Strangely enough, I'm quickly falling in love with the alternative versions of everyone. The next chapter is going to be a bit crazy (I think Donald Duck might be in there somewhere…) so stay tuned! Things are about to get heavy.**_

_**Any feedback of any kind is fantastic! Tell me what you think.**_


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